Claiborne, Moriah

English 103 Messick

October 3, 2014

This I Believe Narrative 2.0

PART 1

This I Believe II, is a novel that many men and women have shared their stories in for others to
read and learn from. All throughout the novel several of the authors used figures of speech to help
describe their experience or show imagery through it. After reading a few of the short stories, I can say
that two of them stood out the most to me. Untold Stories of Kindness, and The Long Road to Forgiveness
both used figures of speech well to explain and add more detail to their experiences. Both Kim Phuc and
Ernesto Haibi used metaphors, but Kim Phuc also used similes in her short story. Phuc and Haibi used the
metaphors and similes in different ways. Kim Phuc used the similes and metaphors to describe her past
feelings, while Ernesto Haibi used the metaphors to describe his surroundings and life like actions.
In Untold Stories of Kindness, Ernesto Haibi was describing his experience in the war, and he
used figures of speech to help describe some of the events. There were only two metaphors found, the
first, Language was the only barrier, but a friendly smile bulldozed that wall and the second, Cars were
covered in blood as if they'd been hit with a paint sprayer. The author placed both metaphors towards the
beginning of his story probably so he draw you into the story, and so you could actually imagine
everything that was going on, instead of just reading plain text. Language was the only barrier, but a
friendly smile bulldozed that wall is a great example of a metaphor because Ernesto Haibi, the author,
comp airs to unlike objects and relates them to one another, as a metaphor should be. Saying that a
friendly smile bulldozed that wall was saying that although Ernesto and the authors were not able to
communicate, a smile would help break the wall and the two would be able to communicate a little bit
better.
While the second metaphor, Cars were covered in blood as if they'd been hit with a paint
sprayer, was used to compare the cars being splattered with blood to a paint sprayer. Almost like it was

Claiborne, Moriah
English 103 Messick
October 3, 2014
intentional, or a game even. Like someone was in a paintball gun fight and they just splattered red paint
all over the place, but if you actually think about it what he went through must have been terrible. By him
using this metaphor, he can then describe to you how gory and bloody it really was, and not what the
government wanted you to know. Both examples of a metaphor were used properly in Haibis short story,
he used good placement as well. By placing both metaphors in the middle of the story, you can begin to
feel and realize that he and many others went through a lot while at war.
In The Long Road to Forgiveness, Kim Phuc used figures of speech such as similes and
metaphors to get her point across. Early on in Phucs story she explains the horrific she went through has
a child, and how she once hated herself because of the way she looked. She explained how she was
different than the other children or how she wanted to die many times, but she found Jesus Christ and
accepted him as her savior. Then her life started to shape up for her and things began to come together.
An example of a simile in the text would be The anger inside me was like a hatred as high as a
mountain because she is comparing the amount of hatred she had towards herself to be as high as a
mountain. So she basically hated herself a ton because of the terrible event that happened to her and her
town. Saying that her hatred was as high as a mountain, was her trying to explain or show you how much
she actually hated herself. Instead of her just saying she just hated herself, she used a simile to explain to
the readers how much she hated herself.
The second use of figure of speech in Kim Phucs story was a metaphor. but my heart is
cleansed is a good example of a metaphor because her heart is being tied to an action. The context
around the metaphor is about when she found Jesus Christ as her savior, and she beginning to have
forgiveness, so the next step essentially would be for her to cleanse her heart. Having the simile placed in
this location is good because it flows well with the context around it. Plus its a good way to end such a
sad story. Personally, I like the story about the little girl more because her story stood out to me more, and

Claiborne, Moriah
English 103 Messick
October 3, 2014
the message inside of it was one that many people could use in their life. Hers was a little more personal
for me, and I could relate to it more.

Overall, both of the writes used the figures of speech in a way that would allow them to add some
sort of sensory details into their stories, although they used them in two different ways. Phuc and Haibi
used the metaphors and similes in different ways. Kim Phuc used the similes and metaphors to describe
her past feelings, while Ernesto Haibi used the metaphors to describe his surroundings and life like
actions.
PART 2
It was back in eighth grade, when I was super quiet and went with the flow. There was this new
girl, who no one really wanted to talk to because we all thought she was weird and wouldnt fit in with the
rest of us girls. In P.E., we would always talk about her and make assumptions about the poor girl, not
knowing a thing or two about her or her life story. Me being the follower I was went along with all the
other girls in P.E., and would constantly dog this girl for no reason, not knowing anything about her. I
remember times when she would be caught with teary eyes in the locker room. Poor girl probably felt like
one of those elephants who worked in a carnival show! She most likely hated her life at the time. We
judged her on a daily basis. After a while I became tired of it and noticed that I knew nothing about her at
all, and that judging her without knowing anything about her is stupid and can be unforgiving in any
situation. But judging her was the best thing to do, it was like that feeling you get when you received your
paycheck! Its what everyone wanted.
I started to think about what my mom used to tell us as we were growing up: Give someone a
chance before you actually begin to judge them. They dont know your life and you dont know theirs.
So, I did what my mom told me to do and that was to get to know her. I eventually started talking to her,

Claiborne, Moriah
English 103 Messick
October 3, 2014
but it was nothing serious, just small talk. A quick hey or bye would break the awkwardness between us.
But as the school year went on we saw each other in the hallway and would smile and wave at each other.
Time progressed and the school year was over, although she and I werent best friends we knew
each other existed. Freshman year came around the corner, and surprisingly we had a class together. I
remembered all the things that happened through the eighth grade and I always kept what my mom said in
the back of my head when talking to people in high school. Sort of like that annoying song you couldnt
get out of your head, thats how my moms thoughts were. So yes, it was a new beginning for the both of
us. I decided I wanted to get to know her as a person, an actual person, so we began to talk and we clicked
instantly. I truly felt cleansed from all the bad energy that was inside of me. We became friends right
away and the friendship only became stronger to where we referred to each other as best friends and
sisters. If it wasnt for what my mom said, her and I most likely wouldnt be friends today, wed be
strangers like we were back in the eighth grade.